Hazle Eyes
by Koojiruzero
Summary: Koojiru has been through literal hell. Now shes trying to live a "normal ninja life" on team 7. Can love heal her dark past?
1. Prologe

Distant screams echoed through out the battle grounds. I stood still, muscles tense and twitching with every smaller noise around me.

This, was our "election" process. All those who wanted to become leader, would gather here, on sacred Chi ground called the "bloody fields" to fight to the death. Last one standing becomes our leader. The "fields" contained a mountain like section, a forested section south of that, and an actual field in-between. I, Chi Koojiru, was basically thrown into the ring by my "oh so loving parents", the current leaders. My mother and father both fought together, and stayed together somehow. Very rare I feel because most of this fight seemed to be very...

Free for all.

Suddenly the noise of a twig snapping too close to me had startled me from my thoughts. Soon, before me stood a big ass mother fucker. His name was Yamasho which was quite accurate a name.

"Heh, I didn't think they would actually throw you into the ring!" he bellowed out a maniacal laugh, causing me to reach for my kunai and shuriken.

"Not so fast princess" he spoke firmly causing me to freeze, because I knew he had made it behind me with a knife to my throat.

"Don't worry" he said licking my face "I'm not here to hurt you..." my heart sank down to my toes, my finger tips turned cold, right before he threw me and pinned me. His hands found their way all over my body and...

I actually don't remember much after that moment. Just random flashes of steel, blood and his final words...

"what the hell are you?! You crazy bitch!"

Truth is I didn't know then, what I was beyond the pain between my legs and the spilt blood coming from me, leaking from him. I felt, so inhuman, mechanical as I took what was left of his miserable life. After that winning felt easy…

Carelessly slashing and hacking away at any foe. It wasn't until the echoes stopped that I can fully recall a damned thing for a few moments. I walked back to Yamasho's body and stared at it trying to piece together anything that happened. My parents, were so pleased with me...

so...

proud. As the cleaners came one dragged me lightly by the arm, my eyes still fixed on the body. I walked with a limp for a while, the side of my face was swollen and tasted like blood. To this day I feel like I should have fought harder, as if that would have changed anything. Days perhaps even months slid by all feeling like one day, one long twisted suspension in time and space where life moved around you, and you stood still. My parents only spoke of my victory, never questioning any of the subtle changes that took place, pieces of me floating away with even a gentle breeze, colours fading. I mean I wasn't happy to begin with, but before that battle I never thought of dying, never put cold steel to my wrists, letting it bite in to spill my blood, all for pleasure. I may have not been aware of being human, but I never felt like a robot either. Not until after...

I didn't even notice what was going on around me when I should have been much more aware, clan members winding up dead or missing. All I did was vaguely give orders my parents told me to give, I never registered what I was saying, launching investigation after investigation but too lost inside to piece it all together. Not until the day that everything literally came crashing down in a blaze of glory. The clan member murdering Chi was none other than Yamasho's brother. At this point I guess he truly lost it, a lot of his family had gone into the election process, none ever returned. It was coming to our next time to start training again for the new election coming up in five years. I don't remember much about when he got to our house, just that I was awake to hear the screams and smell the smoke. I do vividly remember seeing nothing but red skies, illuminating the night with its hellish amount of flames. I turned and ran, and yes without a second thought...

I knew my parents were done for, deep down I knew. I cant do justice as to how it felt, conflicting, sorrow and relief…freedom and despair. I dove into a house that had yet to be cast into flames and hid close to the back entrance with every sense alert. Seriously if I had been a cat, every hair would have been poofed. It didn't take long for the crash of a window to be heard after my arrival, causing me to worry he had seen me. It took even less time for the house owners to attempt to fight off the mad man attacking them. My hand moved a door open bit by bit and just as I got a view I could hear the cry of infants. The sounds of struggle grew quiet, and so I wasted no time. As quietly as I could, I snuck up the stairs towards where I had last heard voices. I slowly poked my head over the top of the next floor where the stairs met it. Our…pushed too far "friend" had his back to me, ranting insanities on and on and on.

"We will all soon be free! Cleansed of our sins! Ashes to ashes as they say" he stopped to either laugh or catch his breath, I'm not sure which, sounded like both.

"Yamasho! Are you watching?! Mother! Father! Our dawning over this retched clan is at hand!"

I crept up a bit more until I was fully on the second level. Two Chi clan members sat tied up being forced to listen to this purely mad man. I met eyes with one of them, a man who I assumed was the infants father. He remained remarkably calm to my presence and was excellent in pretending I didn't exist. The infant cries sounded once more, causing me to duck again quick as the lunatic turned.

"Shut up I will deal with you next!" he called out to the babies, only making them louder. With the little time the second person, the mother I assume had she quickly showed me with her head and eyes where exacty the infants were. Upstairs two doors down and left…also probably praying that I saw her and understood her message so as soon as buddy boy turned around I quietly darted up to the second level and gave a nod before disappearing up the stairs, which by the way never seemed so long in my life. Moonlight was shining down revealing two cribs placed side by side. I moved as quickly as possible and scooped them both, one in each arm. I heard the steps creak once...twice...

It was almost as if he was savoring each step, as if it brought him pleasure to hunt down children. Fuck…maybe that whole family was just messed in the head. I saw no way out, if I jumped through the window there was a high chance that I could injure the babies…or kill them…I tried to calm them down as best I could and headed for the closet and began looking for an attic and a more suitable escape but the foot steps drew too close too fast and I had no choices left. I tried to hide us in the items and covered their mouths as well as I could without suffocating them. Finally the rooms door slid open still keeping to that slow pace. My heart began racing so fast that for a paranoid moment I thought he could hear it, though logically I knew if he heard anything it was the damned crying infants! His face lit up like a child who just got their first dog would, full of glee stomach flipping glee. He stepped closer, still savoring each step, I knew this now by his face. Luckily seconds before he could put a finger on the closet door smoke bombs masked the room ridding all sight, and all I knew was that someone somehow had gotten in. I cant be entirely sure but I feel like I threw up behind me right after this happened. The closet doors flew open causing me to cover the infants attempting to create a human shield.

"There's a girl alive in here!" called a woman's voice.

"The twins?" another voice replied from down the hall

"Parents are dead!" spoke a 3rd person

"Any word on Tada?" the woman called back to them. As the smoke cleared I realized that these people were part of the ANBU team.

"He's dead" the second ANBU said as he came into the room pointing to an unusually still body

"What appears to be the cause?" the woman spoke with authority. She then shifted her gaze down to us and bent down to point at the infants.

"Are they..." her voice showed some concern and fear, so I sat up to show her that they were alive. She nodded, stood and turned to her team member.

"What appears to be the cause of his death?" she asked coolly.

"He must have taken a cyanide pill as soon as he realized we were here" the 3rd ANBU replied.

"Christ" was all she could say with her head hanging low. After her moment of silence she turned back to us and knelt deeper into the closet.

"Its okay, you're safe now" she spoke to us softly and then picked up the severely traumatized babies. As she turned to walk away a strange sound escaped my lips causing her to focus attention onto me.

"Yes? Oh don't worry, you'll be okay we wi-" I cut her off

"I don't care about that" my voice was so quiet she had to bend down to hear the rest

"Can I make a request?" I asked locking eyes to, where I assume her eyes were

"Of course" she said

"Its more of a plea..." I admitted looking down at my hands.

"Please…never let them know that they are born Chi..." after I spoke the ANBU woman seemed taken a back, silent waiting for me to finish, as if it required further explanation. I cleared my throat trying to sound more confident this time and spoke

"I want this clan, and our whole ideology gone. Tada went about it the wrong way I know, but I understand how someone could be pushed that far by our election process" the second ANBU was now listening, even the other one seemed intent on letting me finish.

"This is what it can do" I pointed to Tadas dead body "he could have had a normal and happy life but because I was forced to kill his brother, his last standing family member all lost to it, he snapped! He actually just sincerely lost his mind and wouldn't you? Wouldn't you feel powerless? Knowing that every five years there will be a massive death toll? We fight in the blood of the fallen! He was simply trying to end the cycle, we did this, we made him sick" I said the last four words with as much impact as I could.

"So please, keep this horrific circumstance out and away from the lives of these children. They have nothing to feel pride over it only pain. So please I'm begging you, end it, help me end it let me be the last one". All three nodded in unison and the second man spoke to me

"you're right, this fire threatened the south end of the village" he was speaking about the fire

"This clan was a danger to all of us all along" said the woman.

"Very well, we will tell the orphanage that we found them south of here while making sure the fire didn't spread" they all kept their faces on me and the third one stood walking over to me

"But we cant hide who you are, the village knows very well about the wars with the Uchiha before..." I nodded to cut him off, had enough tragedy for one day.

"Like I said I really don't care just end this" my mind went numb, my words escaped like hollow tubes of air.

After I got out of the hospital I was set up with an apartment and given instructions, to be assigned to a genin team. In one week, I would be part of a four man cell, apparently an odd number, but I could have sworn it was an even number? Anyways I would have a "normal genin life" until I advanced, Jonin leader, missions, training the whole ordinary mess. Ordinary felt impossible, but hope did glimmer within me, perhaps normal was attainable. Once the ANBU thought I was asleep they left for a bit to talk, they were going to guard me in case Tada had any supporters.

So there I was, stuck in a limbo, a new world after hell.


	2. Chapter 1 Oh Dear God Why?

I took a deep breath as I walked through the academy doors. I was to join my newly graduated team, the mysterious fourth member, the odd one out in a three person team… team number seven. Students sprinkled the halls ways like shit on a child's cupcake, happy, excited and colourful, until I walked past then it was as if all that warmth and joy disappeared from their souls. I moved quickly trying to avoid the stares and points, the whispers and hollers at me.

"She's, no way! Tada…"

"Hey killer!"

Just some of the words I made out as I rushed past them. As I found my class room I stood before the door trying to stop the shaking, which didn't last long as two girls collided with me knocking me to my knees.

"Goal!" they both shouted, but then stopped to look at me.

"Oh, hey there I'm sorry!" the blond girl spoke reaching out her hand. As I looked up she froze, I guess she didn't realize who I was till now...

"Ino, come on lets get to our seats…" the girl with pink hair said with a worried expression on her face. I looked at the ground trying to not feel sad about peoples reactions to me…how much did they know? As I entered the room, all of the excited chatter died out, all eyes on me…so I waved to appear less threating as I imagined I must be to normal people. The rooms energy felt heavier than bricks sinking in water so I took a deep breath hoping I did it in a way that no one would notice and walked through the class room pretending that no one was staring at me as if I were death himself. I ignored the whispers as I did so too, I didn't even want to know…

It was challenging finding a seat, every time I went to sit next to someone they shifted away from me or put an object beside themselves as if I were contaminated with some awful illness that could be air born.

"Here" came a tiny voice, I looked down to see a girl with short black hair, and a very meek appearance but I knew by her eyes she was a Hyuuga, main branch even! I sat next to her chest swelling with hope that at least one person in the entire damned village didn't look at me with fear or pity.

"I am Hyuuga Hinata" the meek girl told me

"Chi Koojiru" I said smiling. Suddenly a commotion began, girls yelling at some blond kid who was staring down some other kid, blondie fell into the other guys face and well…blondie was not so great at fighting off a bunch of girls apparently.

"That's Uzumaki Naruto" Hinata whispered leaning in close causing my temperature to raise a bit with anxiety "he's always finding himself in some trouble" she told me with some amusement in her voice "but…no never mind" she shook her head and looked down blushing, I smiled.

"But he's a cool guy and you like him?" I ventured. Hinata jumped as if I had spooked her

"Am I, really that easy to read?" she asked placing her first two fingers to her mouth and blushing harder, I laughed a .

"Maybe, but also I'm just good as sensing this shit" I replied, giving her some hope I suppose. We sat in silence for a few seconds before I spoke again

"Why not just tell him?" I asked tilting my head to the side

"Oh! No! I couldn't be so forward!" the girl was now beat red making me smile again, this was nice…talking about boys with another girl. I never had done that but I saw it in plays and shit…though that girl always died…Chi have an interesting view on love and romance. Suddenly I felt a chill run down my spine, feeling two eyes on my back like daggers. I turned and found the culprit, it was the guy Naruto kissed! My pulse rose, now that I saw him properly I knew who he was, my clan had watched him closley since his brothers disgrace.

Uchiha Sasuke...

Our clans were rivals for a thousand generations I was told, that is until Itachi killed them all, all but one…

I remembered my clan being very upset that it wasn't us who whipped out the Uchiha, but we had decided the last two were targets…and I wondered if Sasuke knew...

"Do you like him?" Hinata's voice broke me from my thoughts and startled me, causing a delay in my responce.

"I don't even really know him…" I admitted, biting my tong on every other detail about it.

"We're probably the only two girls in this classroom who aren't head over heels for him" she continued. I laughed almost too loud but stopped myself

"Uchiha?! HE'S Mr. Dreamboat?!" Hinata seemed confused by my reaction "man, standards are looow here" I said facing forwards now, forgetting all about the dagger eyes. Our teacher came in not long after and explained how things were going to go, typical three students and one jounin per team, aside team seven, we had four. Lucky number seven…oh yeah SO lucky to have ME (complete and utter sarcasm). Each team was called, on mine Haruno Sakura, Uzumaki Naruto, and sadly...Uchiha Sasuke. We all waited for our jounin to arrive, time passed...

And passed...

And it passed...

At some point Naruto began to set up a booby trap for our new and very late sensei. Sakura scolded him, and Sasuke...well he did what he did best and sat there looking emo...

' _I feel ya'_ was all I could think while watching my new teammates. Eventually our teacher arrived and fell for Naruto's trap...setting the boy off in annoying laughter.

"Hm, lets see, I think that...I hate you all" the white haired man said after a pause.

' _HE'S our teacher?!'_

After some time...

"So tell me about yourselves, your hopes, hobbies, likes and dislikes" Kakashi, our teacher said in a near by park. Of course, my teammates were off...

Naruto wanted power, and ramen...

Sakura...wanted Sasuke...

Sasuke wanted, revenge, of course that's what he wanted...

Soon after some quiet, the attention fell on me, I opened my mouth but nothing came out, what in the hell was I supposed to say? The silence became awkward

"You must have some hopes, hobbies, likes and dislikes" Kakashi said through the awkwardness. I glanced at my new team, one by one trying to get a read on them...No such luck, I was too scared my hands felt like bees had taken over the nerves inside them. So I took a deep breath and tried again

"Well..." I began my face went red hot "I don't have many likes, beyond animals really...as for dislikes...I really don't like a lot of things, my hobbies though include writing, studying, reading, training..." my voice trailed off as my hopes came to mind. My mouth opened and closed like a swing for what felt like too long before I looked down, my dream? I only ever thought about my eventual death but how was I supposed to tell my teammates that?!

"Kooojiiiruuu" fingers snapped in front of my face waking me from the awful void, Kakashi's face was too close to mine...I froze and felt the heat rise to my face once more, so I thought quick and managed to spit something less depressing out

"Hopes, right...my hope is that I can be as good at this as I can be?" this made Kakashi turn away, seemingly satisfied with my answer, the lie...and of course the rest of my team stared at me expressions unreadable no one said anything, just blankness. When Kakashi faced us again he explained that we had a final test...told us not to eat breakfast. I scoffed, as this was fucking easy for me far too easy. As we all got up to leave, Kakashi stopped me

"You okay?" he asked me, expressionless...

"Why wouldn't I be?" I retorted raising an eyebrow, but I was dead serious, what about me said I wasn't okay? Did he know anything?

"Ah never mind" he stated simply, opened up a romance novel and walked away. I stood stunned and confused, I mean everyone who was old enough to knew about my clan, yet only few dared make conversation with me let alone ask how I was feeling. I shrugged it off and headed to my empty apartment that was "awarded to me" by the village, as if I did anything to warrant getting an award, I was a killer...cold blooded killer...

I entered the dark small space and turned on the hallway light, then kitchen, finally the TV. I opened my fridge and began pulling out my small amounts of ingredients to make dinner with, miso soup and rice...I had little else. As I began to cook as a knock sounded at my door, and when I answered, there my sensei stood...I froze confused and honestly? A tad afraid, guy wasn't tiny that's for damn sure.

"Yo!" he greeted me dragging out the o. I stared at him, and when he noticed my expression he cleared his throat

"I'm sorry to disturb you, but I made gift baskets for everyone on the team, here's yours" he handed me the basket, filled with different kinds of healthy ingredients for meals. Automatically my hands went out, but my gaze didn't shift due to my frozen state, emotions running around as if there was an emergency...

"Koojiru?" Kakashi tried to bring me back with a sing song voice waving his hand in my face.

"Ah yeah sorry, thanks" I spoke so monotonously even I noticed this time, also looking at the basket for the first time. Meats, vegetables, fruits, miso paste, rice and seasonings. Now I was just staring with the same confusion at the array, I felt overwhelmed with something I couldn't quite put my finger on. Later on I learned that this emotion, was gratitude.

"Ah, your welcome, sorry, sorry I will leave you to your night then" he spoke again turning to walk away.

"Sensei wait!" I spoke without thinking as the fear of my first official night alone washed over me, no ANBU guards to keep weirdos who wanted to hurt me at bay but after a month of nothing, it made sense. Kakashi turned looking curious as my face went tomato red.

"I-I um..." I glanced down as my feet shuffled on their own

"I will cook you dinner as a thank you for your charity" I bowed low as possible to show my sincere respect towards him. The sound of muffled giggling brought my head up to see Kakashi trying to control his laughter. My eyebrow shot up as I glared at him, how dare he laugh!

"You- you don't owe me anything" he said trying to stop his annoying snickering on the situation.

"I insist" I replied as seriously as I could without letting my anger show. He stopped laughing all together realizing how much I meant this. He nodded and sighed

"Very well, what are you having?" he asked walking in looking defeated

"Not your attitude" I responded and began giggling at my own whit, but a whit none too appreciated...I cleared my throat to speak but was then interrupted by a burning smell...MY RICE! I dashed into the kitchen and turned off my stove exhaling in relief. Kakashi poked his head in and glanced at me

"WHAT?!" I barked

"Just seems like you're having an issue there..." he said ducking back a bit. I took a deep breath and apologized on the exhale.

"Its fine, please make yourself at home" I gestured to my small living room attached to my even smaller bedroom. Kakashi glanced but stayed by the kitchen entrance

"At home I cook" he said out of no where. I looked at him knowing how dead I must have looked, I assumed that my face showed it because he stepped in and just took over.

"How long?" he asked confusing me yet again

"How long?" I repeated

"Since you slept"

"How, three days?" A silence brewed between us, and only the sounds of food being prepared could be heard.

"How did you-"

"You're paler than parchment" he interrupted, more silence...

"Last time you ate more than..." he looked in the fridge "rice an miso?"

"When was the Chi clan, uh, destroyed?" I asked feeling super awkward, I mean I of all people should have remembered. Kakashi stopped preparing and looked at me, his one visible eye wide as fuck.

"That was over a month ago!" he exclaimed so I shrugged as he whipped around and began cooking faster. I felt my eyebrow go up, and it stayed there until he turned to me smiling I assumed, possibly proud of himself? I must have looked off because my lack of reaction made his smile vanish.

"Dinners almost done" he said now

"Cool" and...more silence, all throughout dinner silence, didn't even ask how he ate faster than the blink of an eye...

After I finished he stood and began cleaning the table, I stood up quickly

"Let me-" too quickly I guess, because the next thing I remember was waking up on the floor with Kakashi over me, hand held to my forehead with pressure.

"What happened?" I asked through my haze

"You fainted, and hit your head, just a surface wound might not even scar" the man responded. I went to sit up but he held me down, causing me to panic. I screamed, grabbed his hand aaand...bit down, hard. He let out a yelp of pain as I scrambled backwards. He looked at me, not with anger like I expected but shock...what was so shocking beyond me biting him, shouldn't he be angry?

"Oh my God! I am SO sorry!" I began but he simply shook his head.

"Things like this happen" he spoke softly. I looked at the ground as some emotion, maybe even emotions took over me body. My chest burned, my eyes throbbed and all too soon I lost control, tears fell from my eyes, my lungs seized up and released sporadically into an awful honking noise.

"I'm sorry" was all I could manage to say, over and over again until it was almost as if another voice had taken over my speaking, causing me to speak insanities. It was still me, but I didn't feel like I was actually there, just floating in some void somewhere lost.

"I-I was torn open...

The blood...

So much blood...

So much screaming, too much!

THE DEATH!

THE BLOOD" the sobs began again, I don't know how long they lasted but I woke up the next morning alone, in my bed making me freak out again until I realized I hadn't been undressed at all.

Shit...

I was late for the test...


	3. Chapter 2 Bells Bells Bells

I rushed to our meeting spot, only to find my fellow students all still waiting on Kakashi sensei. I looked at each unimpressed face sighed and took my space far enough away to feel okay. Not so far that I would appear hateful, but far enough to feel good. I looked to the other girl, Saukra and smiled to be friendly, but she didn't seem to be happy about it. I sighed and looked down as we waited, and waited...

And waited...hours passed, but eventually he showed up and was greeted with our annoyance and anger. Was he late because of me? No! I couldn't be so self-centred!

"Uh sorry I'm late..." I breathed out, my mind wandering off...

Man I bit sensei! Suddenly I felt a dark gaze on me, my head turned hand ready to grab a few shuriken only to see Uchiha glaring in my direction and my stance did not change until our little, uh moment was interrupted by the explanation of what our final test was to be.

Two bells, four of us, no bell no graduation after all...pretty self explanatory. Sensei must have said something to Naruto because the idiot charged at the jounin! Quickly he was immobilized though, and that is how our test began!

I hid in a low bush just left and back of Kakashi, hoping that I was in his blind spot. Naruto of course did a head on attack and ended up kicking his own ass...how predictable if I knew this would happen...Then he got up and got stuck in a trap, Kakashi came to tease the blond, and Sasuke took this as an opportunity to attack with some kunai and shuriken. Of course though such a mere attack wouldn't have worked, as Kakashi turned into a log...substitution one of our oldest tricks in the book obviously, God damn it Sasuke! Sakura ran after Sasuke who now had to flee from giving away his position and sensei finally chose to follow the two, letting me finally be able to get out of hiding. I took my opportunity to save Naruto from the trap, he hadn't let himself out yet kinda just hung there pissed off. I threw my kunai in case there was more than one and Naruto came down with a thud

"Haha thanks!" the boy said to me rubbing the back of his head, seconds before the second trap caught him. I sighed and cut him down again, this time actually checking for more traps, there were none. After I was sure of this, I looked the kid right in the eyes, which apparently frightened him because he flinched

"I have an idea" I said through the thick layer of awkwardness making Naruto shift a bit but I continued hoping he'd hear me out.

"There are two bells, four of us, so when I get a bell or you do...we share that one and when Sakura or Sasuke get a bell they do the same" Naruto groaned in protest

"I want to share with Sakura! Not you weirdo!" he looked really annoyed, sparking my own irritation.

"Evidently not, but fine what ever helps you sleep at night I figured we'd tag team but fuck you too" was my response. And with that I was off, I dashed through the tree tops and stopped just in time to avoid being seen. Suddenly I heard a scream, it was Sakura's so I ran off again to find and assist her, maybe get HER to help me with my little plan. As I arrived I found her on the ground foaming at the mouth...must have been a genjutsu...how did she fall for one of those? Wasn't she supposed to be like...the smartest in her class?!

"You're fast" Kakashi's voice sounded from behind me. I cloned myself into five before I turned to face him, and we charged. I made them all throw shuriken at him, and I threw down a smoke bomb, creating two more clones as Kakashi got rid of the other five. He knew I was there though, and which one was me. A fist came at me through the smoke so I dodged and grabbed his arm using it to swing myself under his legs throwing down another bomb letting my hand reach up for the bell as I passed them. I got it! And used the remaining confusion to grab Sakura and run. Once we got to a safe place I waited for her to wake up...rather I may have tapped her face a few times trying to achieve this...when she did wake she made a loud noise, our of shock I assume. I smiled at her and held up my bell in triumph, she looked at me confused

"Lucky" was all that came out of her mouth. I smiled wider and began to explain my plan,

"We will share this one, I'm going to find Sasuke and ask him to share with Naruto" I said making Sakura nodded and thought on it for a few minutes.

"That's actually smart!" the surprise on her face was insulting, really it was, but I said nothing to her.

"But..." her face got serious so I leaned in closer "I want to find Sasuke and share with him" she said firmly. I nodded smiling with amusement

"Okay, how about we both go look for him, and then maybe the three of us can team up on sensei!" I winked and turned to go, but she grabbed my sleeve.

"Sasuke's very injured, so we have to find him fast" I nodded, shocked at first that Kakashi would go that far, but also thought maybe it was part of the genjutsu that made her faint, I mean it made sense but I figured she'd guess that on her own...

As we moved, I thought to tell her after all because she wasn't even saying it was a possibility, but a glimpse of raven hair caught my eye. It was then that Sakura screamed bloody murder yet again, and fainted...yet again. I couldn't help myself at the sight, as soon as I realized what must have happened I began to laugh hard. Sasuke, or what I could see of him did not seem to find it as funny. I tried to stop as I helped him dig himself out of the hole Kakashi had trapped him in and after we went to try and wake up Sakura. When she did wake up she grabbed him into a big hug and yelled with joy as he tried to push her off of him. I stood back, leaving them to their lovers business of awkward. Before I could speak Sakura opened her mouth.

"You're still trying to get a bell?" she asked, so I went to speak again of my plan but was interrupted.

"I touched it, next time I'll get one" Sasuke said, leaving me to sigh and try explaining the plot but was yet again interrupted.

"You're incredible Sasuke-kun" Sakura said, leaving me to burn with slight rage, so I held up my bell to express that he wasn't the ONLY amazing team member. Sasuke turned as it made a jingling noise giving me one hell of a nasty look.

"How did you get that?!" he spat, which almost made me change my mind on letting him in on my plan.

"Smoke. Bombs." I replied curtly. Sasuke turned his back to us and went quiet for a few seconds.

"There's a man that only I can kill" he began

"Who? Kakashi-sensei?" Sakura asked, stunning me that she of all people wouldn't know any of this. My eyes narrowed because I knew who he was speaking of. The news spread through my clan faster than the fire Tada started did.

"That time I was crying..." Sasuke continued as if no one said anything

"Crying?" Sakura echoed

"My..." Sasuke still, obviously had forgotten about the test

"What...do you mean?" the girl replied as if he was present to respond to us.

"I am an avenger. I have to become stronger than that man. So I can't just stay around here" Sasuke said still explaining nothing to the clueless pink headed chick. I reached for my bell, just as the timer for the test went off.

"Damn it, wasted too much time" Sasuke said as I rolled my eyes. If they had JUST given me the chance to speak we all could have gotten a bell, we all could have passed! As we walked back towards the main spot, I glanced at Sasuke. He really thought, that killing Itachi was going to solve a damned thing? I killed the guy who hurt me badly, didn't fix the fact that what happened, happened. As we arrived we found Naruto already tied to a poll, causing me to palm my face. THIS! This was my "team"?! The only one who even considered acting like we were one was too fucking smitten to stay focused! We all sat down, my head low as I tried to calm down.

"Oh, you all look hungry" Kakashi said as he approached. I couldn't meet his gaze, I was fine on food thanks to him...I mean I never ate breakfast to begin with!

"By the way, something about the training..." I looked up at the teachers words "there's no need for you to return to the academy" he said as hope filled my chest like air to lungs.

"Then! Then! We..." Naruto spoke out my excitement, maybe Kakashi had taken pity on us, maybe he realized we could do this ninja shit, least I knew I could.

"Yup, all of you..." I was on the edge of my seat so to speak "should quit trying to be ninjas!" my heart shattered at these words. Being a ninja was all I had left! Raised that way, to be blood thirsty and efficient, what the fuck was I supposed to do? Run a God damned bakery?! A nursing home?!

"Okay, Okay! We couldn't get the bells, but why should we quit?" Naruto's words angered me, so I pulled out my bell yet again, no one cared...

"Because all of you are just punks who don't deserve to be ninja!" I went to stand up in protest, but Sasuke beat me to my words flat out attacking Kakashi, dumb ass.

"Sasuke-kun!" Sakura yelled as Kakashi stopped Sasuke's attack and sat on him putting him into a hold.

"Don't step on Sasuke-kun!" she yelled again.

"That's why you're a punk" the teacher continued, and I honestly couldn't argue with him...

"Are you seriously underestimating ninja?" his voice was thick with anger "why do you think you were divided into teams and are doing this training?" my mates were confused, I was too for all of two seconds, then it dawned on me! My plan would have gone off even better than I thought! It was team work! That's what this test was all about!

"Basically, most of you don't get the point of this test" sensei continued. The amount of anger now building up must have been making steam come out of my ears!

"The point?" Naturo ventured.

"Yes, the point helped you pass this test..." Kakashi replied.

"So when are you going to tell us?" Sakura asked as Kakashi stayed quiet as did I, seriously no one figured this out?

"Damn it! Just tell us already!" Naruto demanded. At this point everything was boiling over, how fucking stupid were these kids?!

"TEAM WORK YOU FUCKING MORONS!" I yelled finally at the top of my lungs, letting out all the heat from my rage.

"Yes, exactly" Kakashi began "the four of you working together may have gotten you the bells" he explained to them

"What do you mean be team work? There are only two bells..." Sakura said in reply but I stopped her before she could speak anymore.

"By sharing them! Like I said! If we had tag teamed this mother fucker like I suggested we would have all passed!" everyone froze in shock, so I went on while I finally had their attention.

"You're all so God damned selfish! All you thought about was yourselves! Sakura all you cared about was being with Sasuke, Naruto you just figured you'd do it alone even when I had to fucking help you! And Sasuke, you God damned idiot walking around like you're so great but none of you figured this shit out! I thought you all were better than this!" I stopped finding my breath heavy. Kakashi got off Sasuke and walked over to me

"Stole the words right out of my mouth" he said placing his hand on my shoulder.

"DO NOT! FUCKING TOUCH ME!" I spat rolling his hand off. I stormed away into the forest again, my life, my whole attempt at a normal shinobi life was placed into the hands of these freaks?! None of them knew the first fucking thing about shinobi life! And now they've ruined mine, what was left of it anyways so fuck them!

About ten minutes passed, I had sat down under a tree crying, but the sound of foot steps pulled me out of it quick. I turned ready to fight again only to find Uchiha, Mr."holierthanthou"

"What now?" I grumbled the energy from my body leaving me faster than a deflated balloon.

"I just came to tell you that you were right" I looked up blinking in confusion and allowed him to continue, not like I had the energy to argue anymore.

"We passed, we decided to act like a team. One we would like you to be a part of, and we're sorry, we should have listened...sensei made that VERY clear" he finished. My heart leapt with joy! A normal team! A normal ninja life! If the Chi clan had kept going, I would have only trained with them, only gone on their missions, until I became a jounin and then I would have been one of our spies or shipped off to Root.

"Really?!" I asked hoping closer to Sasuke with happiness.

"Yes...please don't hug me" he groaned making me laugh

"I really don't want to do that either, I'm not as touchy feely as some man!" I replied with a punch to his arm.

"But I am happy to be on the team!" Sasuke smiled and put out his fist, to which I bumped back.

"Sasuke-kun! Koojiru-chan!" Sakura's voice called, and soon I could see her and Kakashi approaching.

"What did you decide Koojiru?" Kakashi asked when he was within ear shot.

"Yes sensei!" I chirped smiling wide. Sakura returned my happiness with one of her own, and grabbed both me and Sasuke into an unwanted and uncomfortable group hug. I looked away trying to not vomit, but as I did...

"Where's Naruto?" I asked.


	4. Chapter 3 Misty Business

We all gathered into position...

"What's the distance to the target?" Kakashi asked through our ear pieces.

"Approximately five meters" I spoke in a hushed voice

"Ready anytime" Naruto replied

"me too" Sakura was next

"we got this" I confirmed.

"Go!" Kakashi ordered, causing us all to leap at once to catch...

A cat...

The cat began to shred Naruto who had grabbed it, so I took it into my arms.

"Thanks" the boy said checking his wounds

"No problem, hopefully it doesn't have rabies!" words I thought that were funny, but he didn't seem to think so. As we returned the cat, the owner smothered it in hugs and kisses and man I felt sorry for that cat.

"Now..." the Hokage's voice struck me from my thoughts "Kakashi's team seven, your next mission is...hmm, baby sitting an elders grandson, shopping in the neighboring village and to help with the potato digging". I sighed, how firkken boring!

"No! No, no, no, NO THANK YOU!" Naruto yelled causing me to jump.

I want to do, you know a more incredible mission! Find us a better one!" I smirked agreeing, these missions were not a good example or challenge of my skills.

"You idiot! You're just a rookie! Everyone starts off with the simple duties and work their way up!" their old teacher, Iruka yelled

"Don't call Naruto an idiot!" I spat back.

"Yeah! Yeah! We keep getting the crappiest possible duties!" the blond yelled even louder now.

"Be quiet you two!" Kakashi spoke giving Naruto a bash on the head I awaited my own, but all the jounin did was look at me with an unreadable expression, making me cringe.

"It seems I need to explain to you both what these duties are all about" the Hokage went to explain, but as he began I spaced out, sensing something...

I looked over my shoulder yet no one was there that I could see. I zoned back in, and it seemed like the rest of my team, including Kakashi had also lost interest in the conversation. Naruto was going on about ramen causing the Hokage to yell at us to focus.

"I apologise" sensei said rubbing the back of his head

"All you do is give us lectures like that!" Naruto yelled back earning a sigh from me "but you know what?! I'm not the trouble making brat you still think I am!" I flinched preparing for the back lash. After some silence the Hokage spoke once more

"If you want it that much...I will give you a C rank mission" I smiled, not a huge step but it was a step none the less!

"It's a protection mission of a certain individual" our leader explained

"Who?! Who?! A feudal lord? A princess?" Naruto began asking excitedly.

"Geeze Naruto, its a C-rank mission it'll just be some person, not an important figure" I said getting a glare from the boy.

"Calm down, I am about to introduce him" Hokage ended his speech before calling in our persons to protect. A man slowly entered the room, the smell of booze coming in first...

"What's this? They're all a bunch of super brats!" he said, clearly knowing nothing about the Chi or Uchiha.

"Especially the shortest one with the super stupid looking face. Are you really ninja?" I narrowed my eyes at the intoxicated man

"Evidently sir, I am Chi Koojiru, of the Chi clan. We are trained since birth for this kind of work" I explained my own heritage to him, leaving Sasuke's out.

"Haha! Who's the one with the stupid face?" Naruto asked laughing, I looked at him blankly and pointed before continuing to correct our guest.

"Of course we're ninja, like I said personally I've been training since before I could walk" I told the man "further more, our sensei is a jounin, I'm sure we can fight off bandits and wild animals." I finished. Naruto leapt at him once the mans words sunk into his thick, thick skull, and that...was our introduction to the "super expert" bridge builder Tazuna, who replied to me as if Naruto hadn't just tried to kill him.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah you're all so special" he said swaying a tad.

So! We set off after more drama at the gates, this was my first time within memory leaving the village. After some time of walking, I stepped in a puddle...I walked a few steps to catch up with the rest of my team and to tell Kakashi about it's oddness but as I did so chains appeared wrapping themselves around him! With one pull, Kakashi was no more...

"Kakashi-sensei!" we all yelled and all too quickly the two culprits were behind Naruto

"Two" they spoke in unison.

"Like fuck!" I yelled charging them, as I did Sasuke leapt into action. He managed to pin their chains to a tree and gave each a swift kick to the face. They didn't even flinch and detached themselves from their stuck chains, each one going off in different directions...one for Tazuna and Sakura and the other for Naruto. Sasuke and I caught each others eyes and nodded immediately knowing where each would go so I dashed for Naruto, who was clearly not ready for this fight. As I got in front of the attacker I ducked into a hand stand in attempts to collide my heel into his jaw, but that didn't seem to stop him for long because he came at me seconds later. I braced myself for impact hoping he would draw blood so I could end him, and yet none came. The two attackers had been stopped by none other than...Kakashi-sensei?!

Oh, OH! I get it! Clone, duh! How dare he let us think he was killed! We also could have died here!

"Nice jobs Koojiru and Sasuke" he spoke to us.

"You alright, scardey cat?" Sasuke taunted Naruto. I turned to realize how frozen in fear the blond boy had been, so I walked back up to him and knelt down to his face level.

"Don't listen to him, he thinks he's oh so cool but if it weren't for Kakashi-sensei we may have been toast anyways. Fighting them might have gotten us killed." Naruto looked at me in confusion for a second, before puffing out his chest and acting all tough.

"Yeah! Yeah! Well I could have saved us!" he boasted. I sighed and rolled my eyes

"Maybe not Naruto, she is more than likely right..." Kakashi said looking at the two men's claws.

"They had poison on these claws..." my eyes went wide and my face lost some blood, I was inches away from being poisoned?! Maybe I wasn't oh so tough either...

"Tazuna-san" our team leader began

"What is it?" the old man looked a little too on edge for this to be some random attack. I stared him down as Kakashi went on

"I need to talk to you. These look like hidden mist chunins, these shinobi are known to continue to fight no matter what" my legs shook at his words, I only remembered a few times I felt that way...

"If you knew that then why did you let the brats fight?!" Tazuna said angrily, and I was too!

"If I had wanted to, I could have killed these two instantly but...there was something I needed to find out who these two were after" I stared at Tazuna, how could he not tell us or know that this would happen?!

"What do you mean?" inquired the lying man.

"Meaning, were they after you or one of us?" I let out a small hiss of anger from under my breath, they could have very well been after me though...

"We haven't heard that there were shinobi after you, our mission was to simply protect you from thieves and gangs" Kakashi continued. I nodded, I also watched Tazuna's face change, giving me a sigh of relief, because with the guilt on his face I knew there was no way I was the reason we were attacked.

"This has now become at least a B-ranked mission. This was supposed to be a simple protection until you completed the bridge. If it was known that ninja would be after you, this mission would have been set up as the more expensive B-ranked mission. I'm sure you had a reason, but it causes problems when you lie about the mission. We are now operating outside of our duties." I nodded and looked at the man, he had a point...Sakura spoke next.

"We aren't ready for this mission. Let's quit! We should go back to the village before we get hurt, or worse" she said.

"This might be too much..." sensei added in. Naruto began shaking with rage, right before throwing a kunai

""I'll protect the old man! We're continuing this mission!"

"Are you insane?!" Sakura yelled out.

"Why Naruto?" I asked, searching every muscle twitch for signs of weakness around his passionate display.

"Because we can't just back down!" he said firmly. I thought hard as everyone turned to leave...

"Wait!" I called out causing the rest of my team to turn around.

"Maybe Naruto has a point..." I ventured voice small and shaky for fear of backlash "let me explain thought, if we back down now...aren't we just abandoning this man to die? Clearly he can't afford any other service. Why else would he hire us 'brats' as we're so lovingly called by him? Not to mention Sasuke, Kakashi-sensei and I proved that we can pretty much handle the attackers"

"Pretty much being the key words..." sensei interrupted me, continuing to speak to stop me from voicing my thoughts.

"Had I not come into the fight, one of you may have been poisoned, killed, or both" he pointed out. Naruto and I gave each other a look, a moment of understanding passing through us as if we had telepathy.

"Fine then" I began "if Naruto and I are on the same page...then we will continue to the Land of Waves. Who ever wants to join us can, otherwise see you back at the village". Kakashi shook his head

"It doesn't work that way" he replied

"Oh? So you're going to knock us out and drag us back then? On top of leaving a man to die?" I challenged. Sasuke and Sakura looked at one another, then back to Kakashi-sensei, it was such a fierce stand off you could almost see the electricity through our stares.

"Fine, go on sensei, fight me, knock me out, drag me back" I said smirking. Neither of us moved, but neither of us backed down either. Sasuke broke the tension by making his choice, and stood beside Naruto and I. Sakura of course followed his lead, leaving Kakashi to let out a hiss of annoyance.

"None of you are giving me a choice are you?" he asked head to one side, expression still unreadable.

"No not really" I said beaming.

"Very well, majority wins, we continue" the man said switching from unreadable to defeated. We all smiled at one another in victory. None of us had any damned fucking clue what we had just done to ourselves, but Tazuna did for the man didn't seem to be happy about our choice.

"Sensei..." Kakashi turned to look at the older man, my eyes fixed on him

"I...have to talk to you..."

My heart leapt into my mouth...

What had I just done?


	5. Chapter 4 Kiri Kiri Kiri

The mist grew thicker around us as our boat drifted along the water. Sensei was still clearly not happy about our still being here, yet he said nothing.

"We should see the bridge soon" our boat driver told us, stirring me from my thoughts.

"The Wave country is at the base of the bridge" I squinted to try and see its shape through the dense fog but I couldn't even see three feet in front of myself. Soon though, it's image did appear exciting Naruto

"Wow! Its huge!" he yelled out

"Hey! Be quiet, why do you think we're hiding in the mist and not using the engine?" our driver scolded.

"We'll be in deep trouble if Gatou finds us"

I thought back to Tazuna's information session, how a man...er child...Gatou became a huge game changer in the Land of Waves. Gang bullshit, which would be threatened by Tazuna's bridge. Honestly though, Gatou by the sounds of it, didn't scare me one bit. A power tripping little bitch who couldn't handle his shit without goons, please...also who names their kid cake?

"We'll be there soon. Tazuna, it looks like we've avoided detection for now but...just in case we'll take the route that has vegetation. That will make it harder to spot us" informed the driver.

"Thanks" replied Tazuna, I nodded and looked ahead. Soon lush forest came into view, causing awe in us all, least...my breath was taken away! Our boat stopped at the shores edge

"This is it for me, good bye and good luck" the boat man told us as we exited the contraption.

"Yeah, super thanks" Kakashi responded

"Pft...coward" I muttered under my breath

"What was that?" my sensei asked clearly not impressed, so evidently he heard me...

"Nothing" I looked at the ground, cheeks burning with shame.

"Okay! Get me home safely!" declared the bridge builder.

"Yes, yes" both Kakashi and I said in unison. We looked at one another blinking in confusion, but I took full advantage of this situation

"Jynx!" I cried out with glee causing sensei to sigh. As we walked it was clear that he jokingly intended to honor the jynx so I sighed and spoke

"Kakashi-sensei...there, I said it you can speak again" Kakashi glanced at me expressionless.

"Hmm?" was his oonly response, I bit the inside of my cheek annoyed, he obviously was playing it cool so...

Not cool!

"There!" Naruto yelled suddenly throwing a shuriken into some bushes causing us to jump! After a few moments passed uneventfully my heart rate went back to normal.

"Heh...just a rat..." the boy said clearly embarrassed, I would be too...

"Stop trying to act cool! There was nothing there!" Sakura exclaimed

"Hey, please stop using shuriken...It's seriously dangerous" sensei said

"Hey midget! Stop acting like a moron!" Tazuna huffed. Naruto wasn't listening and jumped ahead, as if no one said anything. Suddenly my heart rate went back up and my stomach dropped to my toes. I looked to Kakakshi who also seemed a tad on edge.

"There!" Naruto threw another weapon

"I said stop!" Sakura gave the blond a swift punch to the skull. My eyes didn't come off the direction he threw his kunai in

"Someone's after us I swear! Naruto whined.

"Yeah right" the pink haired girl retorted. Kakashi walked over to the area and I followed, it was a white rabbit.

"And for his next trick..." I said softly with a dry edge. My mind sent a warning spark through my body causing me to dive into the bushes scaring off the rabbit, just as Kakashi ordered the others to get down. I watched as a huge sword flew over everyone, hitting a tree. On it's handle stood a man, a Hidden Mist nin.

"Well, well, if it isn't the Hidden Mist's missing-nin Momochi Zabuza" Kakashi said slowly, my body went ice cold at the sight of him. So I stayed where I was. Naruto moved to fight, but our teacher stopped him.

"Everybody get back, this ones on a whole other level" he explained to us. I swallowed the lump in my throat, Zabuza's blood lust radiated off of him like heat off the sun.

"This will be a little tough...unless I do this" Kakashi lifted his head band that covered his left eye.

"You appear to be Sharingan Kakashi" Zabuza's voice thick with interest "sorry but the old man is mine" he said next. I stepped out from the bushes now, which was a dumb ass move.

"Oh? What have we here..." Zabuza asked almost laughing.

"Another brat hiding from fear..." his eyes widened at the sight of me before he began to chuckle making my stomach turn in circles. Everyone's attention shifted to me now, even Kakashi's.

"A...no...THE Chi brat" the man's words made my head spin and my heart race faster than I could recall it racing before, my mouth went dry.

"You're quite famous, lucky me!" he laughed again "I get to kill two legends!" I glared at the man and reached for my kunai but Kakashi stopped me with his orders.

"Surround and protect Tazuna, do not enter the fight...that's the team work here" he explained.

"Fight me first Zabuza" Kakashi said to the other man.

"Ah, I already get to see the famous Sharingan, I'm honored" the enemy teased.

"When I'm done with you, perhaps I can convince the girl to join me" he glanced my way, eyes filled with blood lust.

"Now, lets get to it, I have to kill that old man" Zabuza got ready to pounce. As the jounin leapt into battle the rest of us surrounded Tazuna

"Don't worry sir" I said trying to sound brave "we WILL protect you" as my words ended the mist grew thick around us.

"He'll come after me first" sensei explained "Momochi Zabuza, as a member of the Hidden Mist he was known as an expert in silent killing" my lips curved, a challenge huh?

"You don't even know until you're already dead. It's not like I can use the Sharingan perfectly, you all be careful" he informed us. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, wafting between cocky and terrified.

"Eight choices..." Zabuza's voice came through the fog.

"Liver, lungs, spine, clavicle vein, neck vein, brain, kidneys, heart..." my ears tried to pin point his voice "which one should I go after?" kidneys, slower more painful death...

I knew he was trying to shake us up, and as much as it was working, I wasn't about to let terror shake me up. Another deep breath...

So long as he went for one of my three teammates, and not Tazuna or Kakashi or I...We had one hell of a chance. Go on Zabuza, spill a mass amount of blood, make it possible to end you...

I turned my head to check on my teammates sensing fear radiating off of one of them. It was Sasuke, he was shaking the most, and sweating.

"Sasuke, don't worry" Kakashi broke us out of the spell, "I'll protect you all even if it kills me!" I get that he was trying to be reassuring, but it only wound me up more. Like fuck ANYONE was dying, but thanks to his words my humanity returned, I too would protect this team with my life!

"I won't let my comrades die" sensei was...smiling?! Almost a sad smile though...

"We'll see about that!" Zabuza's voice came from in front of Tazuna! Shit! Damn it sensei! He made me let my guard down!

"It's over!" but before Zabuza could make that statement correct, Kakashi dove in and stopped him.

"Sensei behind you!" Naruto warned as the water clone disappeared. With one swipe Kakashi's clone was also destroyed.

"Don't move" sensei had Zabuza frozen, kunai to his neck! Fuck. Yes.

"It's over" he mocked the man, who just laughed causing my guard to become iron hard once more.

"You don't get it..." Zabuza said after he was done laughing.

"There's no way you can defeat me with your monkey like imitations...heh...but that was impressive of you" he complimented, making my skin crawl, a compliment from him was like a bitter root on my tong.

"Sensei!" I yelled as another Zabuza appeared behind him.

"I'm not that easy..." the evil man taunted us. The fight went on for a few more minutes, but was over as soon as Kakashi fell into the near by lake, this much I knew.

"Heh! Fool!" were Zabuza's words before he used the water prison jutsu.

"You may have been trying to escape to the water, but that was a big mistake" he laughed.

"I now have you in my inescapable special prison, it makes things tougher if you can move you know? Now, Kakashi we can finish things later. I'll take care of them" he finished his words with creating another clone.

"Hehe, wearing forehead protectors and acting like real ninja, but you know what? A real ninja is someone who has survived numerous brushes with death". My jaw clenched, I guess I honestly was a ninja...big mistake on his part for letting me know this, because I had a plan now.

His clone came at Naruto after more taunting, so I threw a barrage of shuriken and kunai just as the boy was sent flying. The clone evaporated but another one wasn't far away. Zabuza's clone swung his sword at me, so I jumped up landing on its flat surface, but he was too fast for me to attack. With what seemed like a flick upwards I was up in the air. I pulled out my last kunai just in time to use it to block him from chopping me in mid air. I flew into a tree and fell to the ground.

"Koojiru!" Kakashi's voice was viscus with fear.

"So disappointing for the Chi girl!" Zabuza said standing over me, sword ready to come down on me, but I saw Naruto's shadow and smirked. I felt blood creep down the corner of my mouth and smirked shooting him a hard stream of it through the clones heart.

"How disappointing for a missing-nin" I said as another clone came up, but was interrupted by Naruto's voice.

"Hey! You eyebrow less freak..."

"Naruto let me handle this!" I called out but it was as if he didn't hear me.

"Put this in your handbook. The man who will one day become Hokage...Leaf village ninja, Uzumaki Naruto!" I looked at him as if he was insane.

"Sasuke, lend me your ear" the boy instructed my other male teammate.

"What is it?" he replied

"I have a plan". I smirked and took the distraction time to shoot more blood at this clone too, the rest was up to Naruto and Sasuke...And I hoped like hell they wouldn't fuck it up!

"Pft, team work from you?" the raven haired boy taunted, pissing me off. Two seconds ago he was quivering in fear and now he was all brave? Please...show off dumb ass.

"Let's get wild!" Naruto chimed

"A lot of arrogance but, do you stand a chance?" Zabuza number...3? 4? Said. I stood up ready to cover my comrades but Kakashi yelled

"What are you doing?! Run away! This fight was over the moment I was caught! Our duty is to protect Tazuna-san! Did you forget that?!" we looked towards the old man.

"Well, I planted this seed myself. I'm not going to now say that I desire to live so much that I'd stop you...I'm sorry guys, fight as much as you want".

"You hear that?" Sasuke asked with a smile.

"Are you ready?" was Naruto's reply. Zabuza began to laugh making my angrier with him than I already was.

"You will never grow up..." he began "going to keep playing ninja eh? When I was your age, these hands were already dyed red with blood". Everyone froze, everyone but me. Oh so special! So very fucking special so were mine, we were shinobi, Naruto and the others just got lucky...Zabuza was nothing different than most, and yet I was interested in his words...How else had others been put through a bloody hell? There were others, I knew this but no one around me had said anything. Though, I doubted even Zabuza could fathom what had possessed me to kill that day...

Yamasho...

The name made my eyes burn and my stomach flip in a gripping pain.

"Devil Zabuza..." Kakashi's voice penetrated my thoughts.

"Ah, so you've heard a little about it..." Zabuza seemed almost amused.

"Long ago in the Hidden Mist village, there was a final obstacle in becoming a ninja..."Kakashi began explaining

"Hmm, you even heard about that graduation exam..." Zabuza interrupted.

"That exam?" Naruto ventured. My eyes stayed fixed on the now laughing missing-nin, I wanted...No I needed to know the rest.

"What's this graduation exam thing?" the boy was obviously getting antsy too. Zabuza laughed more, making my blood run a chill, if it was what I guessed...a blood bath...I couldn't understand how one could laugh about it. Not unless they were like Tada...

"Fights to the death between students..." Zabuza finally spoke "friends who have trained, and eaten at the same table are pitted against each other and go at it, until one of them loses their life. These are friends who had helped each other and shared dreams..." he told us.

"Terrible" Sakura's voice was tiny and distant.

"It happens though" my words escaped before I thought it through. Sakura looked at me puzzled as Zabuza laughed again.

"Believe your friends words, she is a Chi" he said looking directly at me

"youngest leader alive, last member..." my limbs began to shake and I reached for more weapons, he had NO place speaking as if we had shit all in common!

"Ten years ago the Hidden Mist graduation exam was forced to change" Kakashi's voice came from his prison, stopping my life's explanation in its tracks...and I prayed they'd all forget, but Sasuke kept his eyes on me...how much did the Uchiha know?

"This change came after the previous year, when a devil appeared" sensei continued.

"Changed? What change? What did the devil do?" Sakura asked. My mind picked up on its memories, on the stories I had grown up with...

"He..." I began all eyes on me again "my clan had a story of this devil child, we used it like a hero's tale. One day, a child who wasn't even a shinobi killed over a hundred of the students. No hesitation or pause, no remorse. My clan encouraged us to be the same" I explained. Zabuza laughed again and before any of us had time to blink, the devil had Sasuke under foot and was stepping on him.

"Sasuke-kun!" Sakura yelled out doing nothing, so I charged the clone yet again, rage blinding me. Zabuza raised his leg to kick me, but I dodged it.

"This will feel weird!" I warned Sasuke as I cut my hand and let it drip in to the pool of blood he had spat out. I began the process of fusing my chakra to his blood cells, as soon as it was complete I pulled up many, many small needles above Zabuza's head.

"Heh, impressive" were his last words before I threw them all down on him, trying to miss Sasuke. The clone vanished as the original stood still holding Kakashi in the prison.

"Nice try" he teased, leading me to smirk as my blood went up in temperature. This move was super dangerous, but I saw no other options.

"Fire-blood jutsu!" that was it's name, essentially if you could mix your blood infused with your chakra, with the blood of your foe, you could boil both of you from the inside out. Us Chi trained for it since birth, so we could last longer than most. But, that never made it less problematic. I reached the point where I could barley stand, Zabuza's eyes widened as it took effect and fell to his knees screaming but not letting go of the prison! Man, that was dedication fuck! Blood began coming from our eyes, I used mine to shoot another needle at him but missed, I could no longer see very well...

The world grew dark around me, but I didn't give up, not until I threw up my own blood and fainted.

The last things I remember hearing were Zabuza's screams of pain and my name echoing through my mind from multiple voices.


	6. Chapter 5 To Live Smiling or Die

My eyes peeled open, the room spun around me and blurry faces hung over me head as voices echoed like ghosts from purgatory through my hazy mind.

"Koojiru-chaaaan" one of the voices came out clearly enough to make me realize that I wasn't in purgatory.

"I'm...alive?" my voice sounded groggy and foreign

"Barley" Sakura's voice came through now.

"But we didn't know either, you had a fifty-fifty shot" a woman's voice spoke. I sat up fast, only to fall back down faster letting out a groan as my head hit the pillow.

"Are you two alright?" the woman's voice said once more, sensei responded

"Yeah, I just can't move for a week or so..." he said monotonously. I nodded, my eye lids felt heavy.

"What? The Sharingan and Koojiru's technique are incredible but, if it put's that much stress on the body I guess you have to think before using them..." Sakura chipped in.

"Well, we defeated that strong ninja, we should be safe for a while!" Tazuna said happily.

"By the way, who was that masked kid?" Sakura inquired.

"That's the mask worn by the Hidden Mist's special hunter-nin team. They are also known as the body erasers. Their duty is to completely dispose of the body without a trace" Kakashi began explaining. I blanked out for a bit...Masked kid? So, Zabuza was killed?! I must have dozed off because I heard Sakura and Naruto freak out briefly.

"Idiot! What are you doing?! We were so close to seeing under his mask." Sakura said none too quietly. I looked to Kakashi, knowing that something was bothering him

"What's wrong sensei?" Naruto asked before I could.

"Huh?" I looked at sensei now "well..." my shoulders tensed "body erasing teams usually dispose of the body of the person they killed right there" he began telling us.

"And a TEAM right? By the sounds of it there was only one there" I said feeling uneasy now.

"So what?" asked Sakura, clearly not feeling the vibes.

"Don't you see? How did that masked boy dispose of Zabuza's body? As well, Koojiru has a point, he was alone..." Kakashi continued, my team still not grasping shit all.

"How could we know? That masked guy took the body with him" Sakura said. I looked at her, I got it...she was top of her class for her brains?! Oh man, I thought then that I was SUPER FUCKED.

"Yeah, if he needed proof of his work he could have just taken the head. And the weapon that he used to kill Zabuza..." Kakashi said. I looked to my mates...seriously what the fuck?

"Which was?" I asked

"No way!" Sasuke gasped.

"Yeah, I think way" I replied putting my face into my hand.

"Yeah exactly" Kakashi confirmed earning another groan from me.

"What are you all talking about?" someone asked, I hissed in annoyance

"It's very likely that our dear friend lives" I said looking through my fingers.

"Yup" sensei confirmed again.

"What the hell do you mean?" Naruto blasted out the words.

"Kakashi-sensei, you checked and said he was dead!" Haruno yelled out.

"Yeah I did, but that was most likely a momentary death" he told us.

"So, what weapons did this kid use?" I asked annoyed no one was telling me that part.

"It was some needles that the hunter-nin used, unless it hits a vital organ, has a low probability in killing your opponent. It's an item even used by doctors in acupuncture therapy" Kakashi finally told me hurray!

"So, let me get this straight, he carried Zabuza's body away, after using a weapon that probably didn't actually kill him?" I deducted.

"Yes, exactly, these two points indicate that his motive was not to kill Zabuza, but to save him. We can't ignore that possibility" the man finished.

"Aren't you all thinking too much? Hunter-nins are supposed to kill missing-nins" Tazuna ventured.

"Not really no...somethings defiantly off here" I told him.

"Exactly, with all the suspicion we will prepare before its too late, that's a shinobi rule" Kakashi spoke, I nodded to express that I agreed.

"Plus whether Zabuza is dead or alive, there's no assurances that Gatou-"

"cake man" I interrupted Kakashi, earning a stern look

"That Gatou hasn't hired an even stronger shinobi" he finished.

"Sensei, what do you mean preparing before its too late? You and Koojiru can barley move" Sakura spoke in an annoyed tone. Sensei laughed a bit before responding.

"The rest of you will receive training" I sighed and sat up

"all I need is a day or two sensei, please don't count me out!" Kakashi nodded

"Okay" he stated as if he didn't believe me.

"Huh? Training? Sensei! What's a little training going to do?! Our enemy is a ninja you struggled against even with the Sharingan!" Sakura pointed out/scolded.

"Sakura, who saved me while I was struggling? You're all growing rapidly. Especially Naruto! You've improved the most" Naruto blushed, while I felt envy...

Hadn't I grown too?

"But obviously, this is just training until I feel better, you won't be able to defeat him without me" Kakashi ended with...how inspiring...

"But sensei, if Zabuza is alive he could attack at any time, so should we be training?" Haruno spoke again starting to piss me off and making me have to bite my lip.

"About that, a person put into a momentary death situation should take a while before their body returns to normal" sensei replied.

"That and training is better than none" I added in staring right at Sakura.

"So we train until then! Sounds like a lot of fun!" Naruto was the next to speak.

"Indeed it does" I said feeling my energy return. I stood up...

"That's not fun" said a little boy. Turns out his name was Inari, and he was NOT happy about us being ninja.

"Mom, they are going to die" he pointed to us.

"What did you say you little brat?!" Naruto and I yelled in unison.

"There's no way you can win against Gatou" the smaller boy stated as if it were fact.

"Cake man!" I said trying to yet again make that a thing. Naruto spoke next...

"Hey! Inari listen!" the smaller boy faced him

"I am a super hero who will one day become an incredible ninja called Hokage! I don't know who this cake man is, but he's nothing against me!"

"Yes! Cake man!" I chirped...

Everyone stared at me blankly

"What? I wanted it to catch on..." Inari bowed his head.

"What are you stupid? There's no such thing as a hero!" he was firm on this making Naruto mad.

"He's got a point there...but that doesn't mean we aren't strong, it also doesn't mean that we're going to die either" I butted in.

"Well if you don't want to die then...you should leave!" and with that, the brat left.

"What, is HE planning to kill us?" I said sarcastically.

"Sorry..." Tazuna said. Naruto left to scold the child I assumed. This was day one in the Land of the Waves.

Day 2, training began. Basically the idea was to learn chakra control by using only our feet to climb a tree. After an explanation of how to do this we all set off. Kakashi approached me before I could begin,

"You okay to do this? You can take another day off you know?" his voice carried a tune of concern. I looked at him seriously

"Well, what if Zabuza were to attack tomorrow? Wouldn't skipping this make me more vulnerable?" I answered. I looked at my team, Naruto his the ground, Sasuke made a dent in the tree.

"This is pretty easy!" Sakura's voice came from the top of her tree, distracting from our conversation.

"It looks like the best at controlling chakra right now is, Sakura" sensei said.

"Wow! You're great Sakura! That's the girl I put my confidence in!" Naruto yelled. I glanced at Sasuke, who didn't seem to react to our teammates triumph.

"Yeah Sakura!" I yelled up at her, but without Sasuke's praise, we meant nothing. I looked to Kakashi

"let me try" I said with determination

"very well...don't hurt yourself worse" he replied defeated. I gave it a go, but fell on my first try, my second I made it higher, but the third time was the charm!

"Hey! This really is easy!" I called out. The team stared at me wide eyed, did they expect me to fail?! After a full day of this we all returned to Tazuna's, and I...

Went straight the fuck to sleep, because Sakura and I were to escort the older man to his bridge building the next day.

The morning came all too fast, I was in the middle of some messed up dream when Sakura jarred me awake.

"No!" was all that I said as I bolted up right.

"Geez, didn't think you liked sleep that much...you okay?" my fellow kunoichi asked with concern "it looks like you were lost in a nightmare" she ended with that. As my mind came to the present I spoke

"Ah, yeah I will be" I said so groggy I could have still been asleep. Sakura nodded and we ventured to eat our breakfast, then to the bridge with Tazuna. After some work, the old man stopped and looked at us, who had been sitting in silence.

"Where's that blond kid and the other one?" he asked us.

"They're out training" Sakura replied for us

"you two don't have to?" he ventured.

"Since we're so superior, Kakashi-sensei asked us to protect you" was the girls response. I rolled my eyes, we could use our chakra well, whooptie do! I didn't think it meant much beyond that.

"Really?" Tazuna said after watching my reaction, but before I could say anything, one of the workers approached us.

"Hey Tazuna" he began

"What is it Giichi?" the man asked.

"I've been doing a lot of thinking recently and...can I stop working on the bridge?" asked the worker.

"Why? This is so sudden, not you too!" Tazuna yelled out, I waited to hear the man's reasons before I spoke but my initial reaction was to be snarky.

"Tazuna, we've been close for a long time now, I want to help you but, if we continue this Gatou will notice us. And if you get killed then what's the point?" the man said.

"Why don't we quit now, building the bridge?" he kept talking...

"So you're going to let cake man take over?" I said staring this coward down "we're here to protect you" I finished.

"She's right, so I can't do that" Tazuna spoke back to us.

"This bridge is our bridge. This is the bridge we started building together believing it would bring resources into our super poor country" he said.

"But if we lose our lives!" Giichi retorted

"It's already noon, let's stop for today..." Tazuna turned to the coward

"Giichi, you don't have to come in tomorrow" the older man finished.

"I'll do his damned job then, if you don't finish this bridge, losing your life may end up becoming a dream of yours" I looked at Giichi now "someone's gotta have the mental strength" and I left him with that. As we walked into town, Tazuna spoke to me

"You didn't have to be so harsh" I raised an eyebrow and breathed out

"maybe I did though" was all I could say, and it didn't seem to make the man any happier. As I scanned the scenery, the poverty became increasingly more and more apparent. Sakura stopped as did I, before us sat a child begging for money. I knelt down handing him a few coins.

"That's just a child..." said my team member.

"And that's reality" I said, was all I could say. We got into the store, nearly empty and began to shop. Suddenly Sakura yelled out

"Pervert!" she kicked a man in the face and I leapt onto him.

"The hell you think you're doing buddy?!" I put my face in his

"No...I was..." I didn't wait for him to finish, and gave him a good punch to the face knocking him out, then spat on him.

"Thanks, but was the spit necessary?" Sakura stood beside me, but I didn't look at her when I replied.

"Yup" and with that I walked away.

"You two sure surprised me back there" Tazuna almost seemed entertained.

"What's going on in this city?" Sakura asked, a kid came up to her asking for something, and got candies. The child lit up and dashed off.

"It's been like this since Gatou came..." Tazuna spoke "all the adults have lost hope, that's why we now need that bridge. A symbol of courage, we need the people to lose their fear and regain the desire to stand up for themselves. If that bridge...if that bridge can be completed, the city will return to that time, the people will return to how they used to be" he ended his words. I nodded, feeling so much empathy.

"Their cores, their power all stripped away...I get that, but I don't get just giving up" I said. Tazuna smiled trying to be strong

"Same for me" he replied. When we got back and food was served, Tazuna's spirit seemed even brighter, Naruto and Sasuke went a tad crazy on the eating, Sakura was scolding them, all seemed normal. At some point Sakura stood glancing at a photo.

"Hey, why do you have a torn picture on the wall?" she inquired.

"Inari-kun was staring at this during dinner. It seems like someone purposefully removed the person that was in the picture" Inari and his family all froze and went quiet.

"It's my husband" Tsunami answered

"And, the man called hero of this city" the older man added causing Inari to get up and leave.

"Inari, were are you going? Inari!" his mother called out "father! I have told you not to talk about that man in front of Inari!" she turned and left angrily.

"What's wrong with Inari-kun?" Sakura's voice heavy with concern.

"There seems to be some kind of explanation" Kakashi offered.

"Inari and a father not related by blood. They were very close, like real father and son...Inari would laugh a lot back then..." Tazuna told us. I nodded

"but something happened?" I spoke softly,

"Yes, and Inari changed since the incident with his father..." my pulse went sky high, what incident?! Did Inari get hurt by this man?!

"The word 'courage' has been stolen from the people of this island, and from Inari. Ever since that day...because of that incident" Tazuna had our full attention.

"That incident? What happened to Inari-kun?" sensei probed.

"Before I get to that, I first have to tell you about the man who was called the hero of this city" there were tears in the mans eyes as he spoke, making my heart sink for him.

"Hero?" Naruto rebounded

"It was about three years ago Inari met that man" began the tale. Some bullies had thrown Inari and his dog into the water, Poochi, the dog swam to shore but Inari sank. When he woke up, he had been saved by some guy, a guy who taught him courage, to live a life of no regrets.

"Hehe, it's a bit corny" Tazuna told us before he continued the story.

"His name was Kaiza, a fisherman who came here to follow his dreams. After that Inari and Kaiza became very close. It may have been because Inari's real father died before he got to know him, but he and Kaiza were inseparable, like real father and son. It was only a matter of time before Kaiza became part of the family. Kaiza was also a man the city needed. And then..." the man trailed off, my insides feeling wrecked.

"Kaiza was called a hero of this city. And Inari could not be prouder of his father. But then Gatou came to this city".

"And then this incident happened?" Kakashi's inquiry made me feel uneasy to hear the rest, it was sad enough, but my own curiosity grabbed hold.

"What happened then?" I asked

"In front of everyone, Kaiza was put to death by Gatou" the older man informed us, sweat and tears fell from his face.

"What?" Sakura replied in unison, my veins boiling with anger.

"From that day Inari changed, as did Tsunami...and the whole city..." Before anyone could react, Naruto and I stood, but the boy fell, I kept walking. Rage compelled me to find a tree, and I began to train climbing again, and again, until I became too exhausted to keep going. Foot steps approached making me turn, weapon ready for a fight.

"Yo!" came Kakashi's voice. My guard dropped and so did I.

"Woh there careful" the man caught me before my head hit the ground.

"I'm fine!" I spat making him back off a bit, but he was still ready to catch me.

"Why don't we go back? It's almost sunrise" Kakashi suggested. I glanced down at my bruised body and nodded, going to stand again yet falling again. Sensei sighed and grabbed me into a piggy back.

"What the fuck are you doing?!" I demanded

"Getting us back" the man replied causing me to hiss annoyed. We moved in silence for a bit before I spoke.

"Why do you even care?" is what slipped out of my mouth, catching Kakashi off guard.

"I suppose it's because you're my student" he said looking up.

"Yeah true" more quiet "how many people have you seen die?" is what came out next.

"Too many" was the answer I got. I sighed and spoke without thinking again

"What would you do if I died?"

"We would mourn you until we died" he put in so simply. I breathed again

"What if that's what my real dream is?" Kakashi stopped dead and turned his head as far as he could to try and face me.

"What?" his tone was almost angry,

"Never mind" I tried to shut it all down but sensei wouldn't drop it, he sat me down on a rock and stared at me dead in the eyes, I tried to look away but he pulled my face back to his gaze.

"Look at me a listen" he began "if you killed yourself, you will traumatize all those around you" I interrupted his speech

"You'd all survive that" I said eyes shifting to the side "face it, no one on this team likes me, not even you. I didn't go to classes, I know nothing but Uchiha's past about any of you, no one knows me, I have no family and even if they'd lived I'd still just be their puppet. Any parts of me that aren't useful have to die, and I am nothing but a devil like Zabuza. No one would get it even if I explained it until I lost all the air in my body" Kakashi's expression didn't change, but he took minutes to reply.

"Try me, tell me about YOU the real you" my eyes went wide and my insides shook, but I took a deep breath.

"In my clan, we chose out leaders via free-for-all death matches, last one standing became leader. My family stayed leaders for five generations, so I spent my entire life preparing for it, my clan was who I was" Kakashi's expression went from fierce to something softer.

"If I was anything but strong, heartless, cold blooded, jaded or distrustful, I would be shown why that could hurt you...no one struck me...with fists. I became so skilled that they threw me into the ring about 2-3 months ago?"

"4" sensei corrected

"Oh, okay...anyways I was 12...I'm still 12..." my mind trailed backwards. Suddenly I wasn't just seeing Kakashi, but a film of Yamasho as well. Mt body tensed as I felt emotions that had locked themselves away that day.

"I'm only 12..." Kakashi tilted his head but let me continue.

"There was a man...Yamasho..." my eyes watered and I ripped my face from Kakashi's hand and buried it in my own.

"He...he..." I began to hiccup

"Shh" sensei ruffled my hair "no need to say anymore" I looked up at him shocked

"And this was during the free-for-all?" was what he asked next. I nodded as he exhaled.

"I never thought that I would..."

"Kill to survive?" Kakashi interrupted

"I guess" I said back. He nodded and turned around bending down for a piggy back.

"Sure I won't slit your throat?" I bit

"Positive" Kakashi replied. I crawled onto his back.

"For the record, you're not Zabuza, and if you do die, you're taking so much from this world. Even if everyone seems to hate you, you rob this world, because there will always be those who love and care for you. Sakura seems to care, I heard that you knocked out a pervert for her. 'Should have seen her! Eyes like a cat!' she said, and she said it smiling, we all did". My eyes watered, and I couldn't hold my head up.

"Let me tell you about my dad, since we're learning about one another" he went quiet for a bit.

"He killed himself, I found him" my head came straight up as my breath caught, Kakashi went on to tell me about the mission his dad fucked up to save his friends. How those friends and the whole village turned their backs on him.

"It seemed like the world hated him...but he robbed me from knowing him. I've faced a lot and that night was one of the worst pains I've felt". I rested my chin on his shoulder

"Tada, Yamasho's brother killed himself in front of me" I said after some time.

"So you should know, how devastating that can be" he replied, I nodded

"A little" I said, eyes closing...

Leaving the screams to run rapid through my mind.


End file.
